The present invention relates to a carbon fiber composite material, a method of producing the same, an insulating article, an electronic part, and a logging tool.
Carbon nanofibers exhibit excellent mechanical properties. Therefore, a carbon nanofiber composite material is expected to be applied to various fields. In particular, since carbon nanofibers exhibit excellent electrical conductivity, a carbon fiber composite material in which carbon nanofibers are uniformly dispersed in an elastomer may be applied to an electron emission device or the like (see JP-A-2008-311083, for example).
A composite material produced by mixing carbon nanofibers into an elastomer exhibits excellent mechanical properties, and is expected to replace a rubber product in various applications. Many rubber products utilize the insulating properties of rubber. On the other hand, a carbon fiber composite material in which carbon nanofibers are uniformly dispersed in an elastomer exhibits excellent electrical conductivity, even if the amount of carbon nanofibers is small. Therefore, it is difficult to apply such a carbon fiber composite material to products for which electrical conductivity is not desired.